Once belonging to a Chechen soldier, Mazay kept the grenade as a reminder of the brutal occupation he endured at the very start of the invasion in his hometown Hostomel, one of Kyiv’s northern suburbs. When the French construction waste recycling company Neo-Eco announced plans to rebuild his apartment block as part of a pilot reconstruction project, Mazay was thrilled. Since Russian forces killed the mayor in March 2022, the city is now run by a military administration and elections for a new civilian head can only take place after the war when martial law is lifted.